↓↓↓↓

Dance with me under the diamonds
See me as breath in the cold

↑↑↑↑

√√√√

MORNING TEA

That was what was engraven on the  brown brick wall of the  big eatery  towering over them.  The building looked like some vintage store with a thick glass door that just required a little forceful pushing before one could get in.

The lights inside the eatery were still on signifying that the owner wasn't closed for the day. Few cars sped past them on the road and across the eatery were night marketers and some Individuals footing their destination.

"Umm... so this is it?" Yara asked looking over at the building with an  uncertain gaze, her helmet was still hung over her head

"Apparently" Toby replied, dismounting from the BMW while he pulled off the helmet over his'

"This is like a tea shop"

"Actually it's more than just a tea shop"

"I wouldn't know" she shrugged as he took her hands in his before making their way to the door of the restaurant

She stared at both their hands holding each other, feeling her whole body heat up as they both walked into the vintage like building of the so said eatery or tea shop

There was no one inside. Yara slowly pulled the helmet off her head, using her other hand to run through her hair as she  took a quick glance at the shop, dim lights illuminated the whole place and a huge  poster which read MOURNING TEA hung on the wall.  Her face paled.

"This place looks like a hunted store. You sure it's really we're at the right place?" She gripped his palms tightly, giving a once-over at his calm expression

"Relax Teqs. I'm not out to kill you" he said with a small chuckle, going over to ring a bell that was placed by the side of the door

"I never know if you want to, just don't smoulder me in here, I don't want me coming back as some vengeful ghost" she snorted out, her voice stringing along a certain courage

He stared at her in disbelief, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he tried to stifle his laughter

"God!  Teqs tell me you're not serious right now? "

"What?" She shrugged, then added with her index fingers up,  "one more thing is, you don't write 'Teqs' on my gravestone as much as I don't mind,  it's gonna be abit absurd to think I was a drunk" she finished up with a serious look etched on her face

This time, he roared into a boisterous laughter, holding his lower abdomen. How did she even make jokes like this with a straight face?

"Teqs I'm not killing you, c'mon. You're having crazy thoughts " he said in a sobered up tone

"No apologies but I don't know what else to think especially when I don't know this..." she looked over the enclosed walls again, coming in contact with the poster as she fake shuddered

"Hunted house"

Toby laced his hands in hers, lifting her hands to his lips to place a light kiss on it

"Trust me, you're safe" he mumbled audibly

She swallowed a lump, her body literally freezing on the spot, the only words she could hear was him muttering something about her being safe with him

It made her relax. It made her want to  trust him yet she found herself pulling her hands way from his almost like she had come in contact with hot coals, He rubbed his nape of his neck awkwardly, watching her fumble with her palms before going over to ring the door bell again

"Welcome to morning tea shop we are….." a foreign accent with a quirky tone laced underneath called out excitedly before trailing off in a gasp

"Oh my gosh! Toby is that you?" A chubby guy in  rimmed glasses shrieked dramatically at them in excitement, tumbling over piles of paperwork

Toby smiled at the man  "hello Barns. How have you been?"

"Very good since I just saw you" Barnes replied accompanying it with a wink which made toby laugh

He was used to Barnes eccentric and chessy nature. Barnes was a British-Nigerian man. He was raised in london but had lived in Nigeria for over twenty years and could pass for a citizen which he was.

"I see you brought a friend. Is that Sarah? " he asked asked looking at Yara in close observation

"Good evening"  Yara replied staring oddly at the man who fumbled with the piles of paper on her counter. Obviously trying to arrange them

" i don't think i've ever seen you with Toby..what's your name you pretty child?"  Barns asked causing Yara to cringe at his singsong tone

"Yara."

He beamed, adjusting his glasses in a way that reminded her of Seun "that's a beautiful name.  Innit "

She said nothing in reply, throwing her gaze to look around the shop again. Barnes turned to Toby, leaning in forward

"She's a spectacular one." He whispered "you two dating each other? "

"No" they answered symphoniously causing Barnes to stare at her in suprise, apparently she had heard him. Something he didn't except of her

Toby glanced at her, she was still not staring at any of them —he bit the lower of his lips warily, had he done something wrong? That was one hell of a question he knew he was prolly not going to get an answer to

"Sure you aren't" Barnes eyed them skeptically while muttering under his breath at how obvious it was

"Can we have two cans of soda and sandwich? We'd like them in a takeout please" Toby said, sitting on the high fancy chair by the counter with his fingers tapping it softly

  "I can do that for you" Barnes replied with his usual chirpy tone

"Soda only. No sandwich for me" Yara interrupted quickly

He laughed. Knowing that Yara had occasionally been stealing glances at the poster with an uncomfortable countenance

"Well I do hope my poster isn't creeping out your apetite. Is it?"  Barnes asked peering carefully at Yara

"It's high time you removed that anyway. April fools day is long past " Toby stressed, taking a long look at the poster

Yara furrowed her brows at them "April fools day?"

"Barnes used this to prank alot of people during first of april " He explained

"Isn't that going to like stop people from coming here?" Yara questioned quite confused

"Technically it does that and also it hinders weasly armed robbers from coming too." Barnes replied with a cherry satisfied smile

Yara smiled at his tactics. Feeling a lot more relaxed   "quite reasonable If you ask me"

"I know right!! You brilliant" he replied,  snapping his index finger at Yara with a grin wider than ever

Toby laughed as he remarked "You two would get along just fine "

Barnes chuckled "why don't you both take a look around while i get you your take outs" 

→→→→

Yara fixed her hands into her jacket, taking a good look around the said eatery which wasn't even half compared to a real one. It was really weird why some one would choose to eat in a dimly lit place with only a few fancy chairs and tables around and a lot of aesthetic paintings and beautifully framed photographs which hung on the walls

At one coner of the store was a beanbag couch beside her collection of antiques and a large mahogany bookshelf with different types of books resting on it.

Toby was right—this was more than a tea shop

"This place is really odd." Yara commented still looking around in awe

"I know right"

"Was he planning on opening an antique store?" she asked,  going over to the picture frames hanging on the wall

He shrugged, walking closer to her who had her attention fixated on a particular photograph

"Barnes once said this shop belonged to his great- great- grand father,  it was some sort of a family heirloom"

"That's spiffing " Yara commented, fixating her attention on a black and white monochromatic portrait photography mural
"This is beautiful. Did he take this photo too?" Yara asked

He leaned his shoulders on the wall "that's my photography"

She turned to him with a dead-serious look "tell me you're joking"

"I'm not" he blasely replied, glancing at the picture

"Dude!! You're fuckin' talented. What're you? Wait! Are you like Edward Weston, Lakin Ogunbanwo  or something? " she blabbed in awe like it was the world's best photography she had ever seen

"What?! You know Edward Weston too? and Lakin is like my favorite photographer" He asked- said in delight, watching her lips curl up into a lopsided grin

"Yeah, they're like one of the most famous world photographers, I've seen some of Edwards portraits and still life photography and I saw Lakin's own sometime last year. The guy is a wow!" She replied, still looking at the mural in awe

Toby beamed. "I'm happy"

She turned her face to him, arching her brows at him—who says they're happy just like that, like, it wasn't wrong to be happy, it was just the way he blurted it out.

So genuinely.

It warmed her heart. The familiar gleaming in his eyes and his smile that seemed to touch his eyes, he was truly happy.

"Do you have more of your photographs? Can I see them?" She asked, averting her stare from him

"Sure, of course. I gifted quite alot of Barnes which he hung close to his collection of antiques " Toby replied, gesturing to her to follow him whilst he showed her all his still live photography, landscapes and portrait. 

The photographs looked so real. So eye-catching that if hung up in a museum, one'd have to pay a buckload to get just a glimpse of it.

That was how charming it was. How aesthetic.

"I love them." She said, gazing at the photographs over and over. Eyes filled with adoration

"It's impossible not to love them "  Toby teased with a knowing smirk

She spared him a glance, curling her lips into a scoff

"Didn't know you're quite the egotistical one"

He grinned "I should be. You're looking at the world's best super talented photographer"

She rolled her eyes, biting her lower lips to stop her from smiling so hard as she skipped over to the book shelves

"Hey look, there's a bookshelve here. Prolly the world's best super intresting books are right here" she said in a drastic dramatic tone which caused Toby to roll out fits of laughter, clutching his stomach tightly

"Dude get a grip of yourself, would'ya?" Barnes called out at toby in a feigned cautious tone

Yara skimmed through the bookshelve,ignoring Toby who had laughed out his heart content at her expense.  Her eyes widening at every book she came across

"Okay wow. I admit. This place is totally not bad "

"Why? You having fun looking 'round ?" Barnes replied, coming out with an apron and chef cap making Toby furrow his brows at him

Wasn't it just sandwich and soda?  Why's Barnes now looking as though he was cooking for the whole of Africa?

"Yep obviously— I just saw the super talented photographer's work" she gave a sobered up Toby a glance "…and now, these books!!"

"What books?" Toby asked with an etched eyebrow, watching Yara pull out a big sized novel from the shelf and Barnes smile proudly

"Thatweird_author" she replied, holding the novel up to his eye level. A  bestseller mystery- thriller, crime fiction novel with the name written boldly on it THOMAS HOPKINS SERIES —MURDER IN THE RAIN

"Barnes books?" Toby asked,  a smile rested on his face as Yara looked at him in perplexity

"Barnes?" She asked, Toby nodded in affirmation

"Yeah Barnes. The guy smiling like a creep behind you" he said the last sentence with a playfully, popping the two cans of soda open before handing one to Yara

Yara spurned around almost spontaneously,  staring jaw drop at him.

Barnes? The writer of the best-selling book,  the guy who most mystery thriller readers wanted to meet up with. He was damn popular but never revealed his face to the media except vague pictures of him on his rimmed glasses and eccentric dressing

"No way!!" Yara found herself exclaiming. Gulping down half the contents of her soda before bringing her attention back to Barnes.  This guy was her biggest celebrity writer, her favourite author who she's just meeting for the first time

"I get you" Toby said, tapping her lightly on her shoulders as he bit into the sandwich which he took  from Barnes who had decided to work overtime today—figures why he decided to make them sandwiches in his not-totally eatery shop

"Quite unbelievable. I know " Barnes said, going over to the shelf. Toby looked on in satisfaction, he wasn't a fan of mystery thriller books but crime- fiction. He could  manage those.

" this is so fuckin' surreal " she gushed "and to think I was reading Ginseng series over again...."

"Wait! You read Ginseng series too?" Barnes asked excitedly at a grinning Yara

"Couldn't help it!" She beamed "then, I had gone over to read Thomas Hopkins , and I couldn't just get enough of the suspense...it was so intense, I didn't even think Lucas despricado was gonna be the culprit in murder in the rain...

"I like to keep my readers on their toes" he replied with a proud smiled sprawled across his face

Toby had decided to give up listening to them chatter about Barnes book. The night seemed magical, there was certainly more to the girl who everyone called queen witch

In one night he had seen her cry, laugh, gush over stuff with the innocence of a child, get angry, act dramatically and now she was beaming in excitement.

She was spectacular.  Ethereal even.

♡♡

It's been over an hour since the duo left MORNING TEA. Barnes had offered her a VIP invitation to his  book launching and even let her have one of his original manuscript of his book and now, an over excited Yara had her head leaned on his back, her arms clutched tightly'round his torso as exhilarating breeze swept past them while Toby rode his BMW

They had just arrived in front of her home, the silent brightly lit-up avenue welcomed them. She dismounted herself from the bike, holding his helmet to him

"I guess I should say…umm… thanks....um...the ride.….thanks for..."

He titled his head sideways with a warm smile—it was amusing, watching her struggle and stutter a thank you

"How did you know Barnes was my favorite author?" she asked,  diverting her thank you message when she realised she wasn't saying it right

"Coincidental I guess. Didn't even know you read his books" he replied

She smiled, leaning her svelte figure on his bike. "And your photographs too. I guess I'm really looking at the super talented photographer"

"At last! She admits" he said bemusedly which earned him a light chuckle from her which gradually died down

She propped herself from her leaning position, eyes fixated on her feets in concern while she twirled her fingers between each other as she swallowed imaginary lumps

"I…for tonight, thank you Toby." She said, placing a soft kiss on his cheeks, Yara slowly pulled away, bringing her gaze to meet his stunned expression.

He stood fixated on the spot, his curly hair framed his temples, while his coffe eyes literally stilled on her, wordlessly. She took that as her cue to dash out just when he gripped her wrist gently, pulling her back to him

The night was getting old but the moon shone ever brightly, he could see her face flushed up in uncertainty, she averted her gaze from him, aware of his intent stare on her which made her turn mushy

—The feeling of his index finger slowly hoisting her chin, the tilting of his head to the side, his hot breath fanning her face, his lips gently engulfing hers in a slow passionate yet thrilling kiss. He could feel her whole body shiver in warmth, her knees growing weaker as he wrapped his his arms around her small waist while he pulled at her bottom lips, tugging and sucking on them gently, feeling her resolve break down into scarred pieces, like he was pulling down her walls yet holding her like she was a piece of fragile glass.

He retreated, gazing into her eyes— those ocean black eyes which had the illumination of the moon gleaming in them which she averted again in shyness. Her countenance held a childlike look, something which he found as an innocent gesture yet causing not so innocent thoughts to swirl momentarily inside his head. She was so innocent—so childlike yet so tough and she didn't deserve whatever bad things that must have happened to her

No one did.

He felt her body tremble when he caressed his palms softly on her cheeks, she was biting her lower lips. Damn!!  it made him feel hot all over, watching her nibble them with her eyes on anywhere except him

"Thank you for coming with me on this drive. Always remember, you're special in the most perfect way I know. .." His voice sounded so raspy as he repeated the words which he had told her this night only that he sounded firmer than before, he was slowly weakening  her resolve more as she fought her mental battle to look him in his coffee hazel eyes

"Never think otherwise no matter what. You're perfect—beautifully flawed. Always remember that,  Yara. "

This time, finally getting her confidence she captured his lips in hers, cutting him off as she kissed with the same passion. Her hands burying deeply into his soft silky hair while she nibbled on his lips, she angled her head to the side to deepen the kiss, exploring his lips intensly,  her whole body ignited hot sparks within her, a moan escaped from within them as their lips moved in sync.

They were a pair made for each other 

Of Beautiful souls and  golden hearts.

They were ethereal. 

←←←←

AWWWWWNNNNNN!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍❤❤❤❤ SO THEY FINALLY KISSED 😪 😂

WELL....LEMME JUST RESERVE MY STRENGTH FOR WHEN I'LL BE WRITING THEIR MATURE SCENES😉😉 *Coughs*😂😂😊😊

random question—if you were to meet your favorite author too, what will you tell him /her?

Thomas Hopkins is a fictional character from my head like the whole of Barnes ish is my imagination but the photographers are real people

Anways, still watch out for next update. These characters seem like they have a mind of theirs  🚶❤

Don't forget to VOTE. COMMENT AND COMMENT AND VOTE.

Ujurita xoxo
❤❤